“AN ASSISTANCE DOG HAS OPENED UP A NEW WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES” - MARILYN & MOBILITY ASSIST DOG CHECKERS Can Do Canines ANNUAL REPORT 2015 1 DONORS HOURS DEVOTED SUPPORTED CAN DO CANINES 3,345 TO CAN DO CANINES 823 APPLICATIONS FOR , IN GENERAL VOLUNTEER ® ASSISTANCE DOGS 6 DUTIES 570 REQUESTED 97 ASSISTANCE DOGS PUBLIC 46 PLACED WITH CLIENTS PRESENTATIONS Our Mission 4 PRISON PROGRAMS DOGS CAME IN FOR Can Do Canines is dedicated NUMBER OF DOGS 73 46 FINAL TRAINING to enhancing the quality of life 96 INMATE HANDLERS for people with disabilities by D D D D D D D D creating mutually beneficial partnerships with specially NEARLY 187 trained dogs. PUPPY PROGRAM VOLUNTEERS SPENT 337,260 HOURS NURTURING, LOVING D D D Our Vision AND TRAINING OUR PUPPIES D D We envision a future in which every person who needs and TOTAL ACTIVE APPLICANT wants an assistance dog can 236 INTERVIEWS have one. DOGS IN 2015 126 Cover photo by veramarinerstudio OF EVERY DOLLAR 85% SUPPORTED OUR MISSION 2 “WE ARE MOST GRATEFUL FOR YOUR SUPPORT.” FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & BOARD CHAIR Dear Friends, In this report it is our pleasure to At year-end, we had certified a total of provide you with highlights of the 523 assistance dog teams since our start accomplishments achieved by Can Do in 1989. Canines during 2015. We are grateful for Generous gifts from individual the tireless work of the many dedicated contributors continue to be the most volunteers and hardworking staff who important source of support for our work. contributed to this important year. Your Your generosity is what makes it possible contribution to this effort, whether it was to continue to provide these specially financial, volunteer, or both, moved our trained dogs, free of charge. We are most mission forward as we strive to provide grateful for your support. more high-quality assistance dogs in the community. We approach 2016 with a great deal of Alan M. Peters enthusiasm for the opportunities before Executive Director We capitalized on opportunities in 2015. us. We are fully staffed, with volunteer We added three new staff this year, moved and prison partners fully engaged. wages to a more competitive level with Counting on your support, we have set other nonprofit organizations and set the our sites on an ambitious goal: to stage to add a fifth prison puppy program increase the number of new, certified in 2016, all in preparation to increase the assistance dog teams to 51 in 2016. number of dogs trained. Our waiting list remained over 160 applicants, but we Your involvement with Can Do Canines certified 46 new assistance dog teams gives life to our mission and gives during 2015, 35% more than in 2014 and meaning to our work. Thank you for a new record for the organization! joining us in this important endeavor. Volunteers remain the life-blood of Can Do Canines. Puppy Raisers and Foster Homes are the key to readying our young pups for their future jobs as assistance dogs. Amazingly, 738 volunteers contributed MarySue Krueger 343,956 hours of service during 2015. Board Chair 3 4 MARILYN CHAZIN-CALDIE & MOBILITY ASSIST DOG CHECKERS Marilyn Chazin-Caldie doesn’t want to be slowed down. he has a tuxedo on. He walks proud, and prances like A retired statistician, she lives in Medina, Minn. with her he’s walking on air. We are sure he will make an excellent husband Patrick. Despite being diagnosed with multiple assistance dog.” sclerosis and Behcet’s disease—both of which have Checkers has fully lived up to his reputation. Partnered caused the inability to walk—she remains active and with Marilyn as a Mobility Assist Dog, he helps Marilyn pursues her interests. regain some of the independence she has lost due to “I am involved in pottery and photography classes,” MS. The Lab excels at retrieving items that Marilyn drops. Marilyn says. “I like to take ‘walks’ and take photographs From silverware to laundry, Checkers can fetch it all with at zoos, arboretums, museums—oftentimes alone.” a happy wag of his tail. Extra helpful, says Marilyn, is that Checkers has been trained to bring her the telephone While she does her best to stay independent, multiple when she needs it. sclerosis has taken its toll. Marilyn uses a wheelchair to get around and suffers from daily back and leg pain. “He’s really cute, because he latches on to it with his She finds herself tiring easy from activity and—as MS is mouth—usually dialing someone while he brings it to me,” a progressive disease—she has increasing difficulty using she says. her arms. As Marilyn can become easily fatigued from activity, One day, Marilyn was talking with a woman at the anything Checkers helps with is greatly appreciated. Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute who had an She fully realizes Checkers’ value through all the energy assistance dog. Marilyn learned that the woman’s dog she saves from everyday tasks. was trained to help overcome many of the same obstacles “In the mornings, I can say, ‘Checkers, go and get the she was facing. Tuned into the idea of assistance dogs, paper!’ And he’ll run and get the newspaper for me. He’s she started to notice a lot of “red vests” around. That’s a devoted puppy.” when she applied to Can Do Canines for help. Marilyn is grateful not only for the hard work of the Meanwhile, a two-year-old black Labrador retriever trainers and Puppy Raisers, but to everyone for their named Checkers was working his way through the training contribution in raising her assistance dog. program. “I read through all of the notes about Checkers and “We nicknamed him Mr. Checkers,” wrote one of his everyone wrote, ‘whoever gets this dog is going to be Foster Home volunteers. “When Checkers is dressed in a very lucky person,’” Marilyn says. “And I feel his cape and Halti, he is such a different puppy. It’s like like the luckiest person in the world. I really do.” 5 Due to a hereditary condition, Julie Schneider of Arden Hills, Minn. started losing her hearing in her 20s. Her condition deteriorated over time and she became unaware of the sounds and noises around her. In 2003 Julie got help from her first Can Do Canines Hearing Assist Dog, Sandy—a Cocker-Papillon mix. The hearing helper alerted her to all the sounds she had been missing and Julie was feeling reconnected to the world again. But when Sandy died of cancer in 2011, Julie’s problems reappeared. A chance encounter with a dog breeder led her to adopt Shiya, a four-month-old American Eskimo. The two had an immediate connection, and from the start Shiya was beginning to alert Julie to sounds. But the JULIE SCHNEIDER & little pup had some kinks and quirks that needed to be worked out. That’s when Julie reached out to Can Do HEARING ASSIST DOG SHIYA Canines for help. Bred to be a herding dog, Shiya could be timid and shy toward strangers. Can Do Canines worked with Julie to make Shiya more comfortable approaching people. Gradually, she overcame her fear. Shiya also had a problem with pulling while on leash in public. Can Do Canines worked to overcome this issue through various training techniques and a special harness. “It took a lot of work and determination,” remembers Julie. “I almost gave up.” But the two persevered, and now Shiya consistently alerts Julie to everyday sounds most of us take for granted. Alarm clocks, oven timers, door knocks, fire alarms, running water and Julie’s name being called all fall under Shiya’s repertoire. “I’ve been extremely pleased and blessed—Shiya just sort of fell into my lap,” Julie says. “With help from Can Do Canines, Shiya has changed my life.” 6 Holly Arnold-Rains of St. Anthony, Minn. has a complicated history of stroke and seizures. Her main problem is balance, but she also has trouble grasping items, because one wrist was badly damaged in a fall. “I realized that I was calling on my kids more and more for help,” Holly says. “To keep my independence and be able to stay in my home, I knew I couldn't keep depending on them.” Holly’s physical therapist thought an assistance dog from Can Do Canines could help. She applied, and was matched with Link, a two-year-old black Labrador Retriever. Today, when Holly drops items, Link is there to pick them up—no family assistance required. Link frees up her energy by opening doors, retrieving the phone, and even lending a paw with the laundry. HOLLY ARNOLD-RAINS & “Link is so attentive to my needs,” Holly says. “He MOBILITY AND SEIZURE just knows—he has an instinct. If I drop something, even when I didn’t know that I did it, he’ll surprise me by ASSIST DOG LINK bringing it right to me.” Holly’s seizures can come at any time, so she needs Link to get her medication, and keep her Vagus Nerve Stimulation magnet handy. Holly uses this special magnet to trigger an implanted device near her neck, which delivers a burst of stimulation that can help stop her seizure before it occurs. If a seizure does occur, Link makes sure she recovers quickly by licking her hands and face, re-acclimating her to her surroundings. “I’M HONORED “It's wonderful to have him lay there and be with me,” TO HAVE SOMEONE Holly says. “I worked as a caretaker for many years, so TAKING CARE OF I’m honored to finally have someone taking care of me.” ME.” To all the volunteers and donors who made the partnership possible, Holly says, “I’m able to live independently and Link and I can be a team.